HAPPY HALLOWEÉN

                                                                  Happy Haloweén 

Here's a short update to go with today's theme. Again this year I have only received one Halloweén themed postcard. I guess from that fact, Halloweén  postcards are hard to find most places. For that matter, any holiday, or themed day postcard is next to impossible to find in my area.

Anyway, here's the one Halloweén postcard that I received a couple days ago. It arrived from the U.S.A. , compliments of a Postcrosser called Shad.

Shad used a couple of common, often used and seen stamps , so I won't bother to write about them. Shad also decorated the card with a couple of spooky stickers, Dracula and Frankenstein , I know I'm scared now just writing their names.





That's the update for Halloweén., Enjoy the day, look after the little kids, don't scare them too
 much ,check the treats and don't eat all your leftover treats tonight. Take care.

Short Update Before Halloweën

I have just a couple of cards for this time. Let's start with this really nice card from Turkey. Sorry, but I really couldn't come up with a translation of what is written on the front of the card. Maybe someone will let me know in a comment. Anyway it's a nice card thanks to Leslie. She has a great postcard blog called the postcard blog . Be sure to check it out. Here is Leslie's card.


As is often the case with a card from Leslie, it arrived with a bunch of great stamps.  The stamp on the left with the label on the bottom is 1 of 3 in a Definitive set. The vertical middle stamp is 1 of 2 issued in 2012 featuring Nature & Art in Van. The final stamp, the larger one on the right , also was issued this year and is part of a set of 2 issued for Human Rights. 




The second and final card for this time,( I said it was a small update ) comes from Belarus and features a military helicopter. I do believe it's a static display as part of the Museum of Aviation near Minsk


. A Postcrosser named Vick posted this card from Gomel, the second largest city in Belarus. He didn't write a lot on the card but he used a lot of stamps.
The stamps are all over the map , date of issue wise, from 1997, 98 and 2001/08/10/11/and 2012.

The train stamp , the tractor and the truck stamps along with the plane stamp are my favourites, what about you ?

As I mentioned earlier, this is indeed a short update. Take care. Gotta run.

Gems Untitled

What do you know, I'm back again ? Must be going for some sort of record here. But it's all about cards and that's what I have. Nothing spectacular, outstanding or exotic, not even a new country, just cards and a few nice stamps.

First up is a people card from Amsterdam, Netherlands. It doesn't really need much explanation , we can all see it's a kiss by the ocean. My Lovely Teena likes people cards, so whenever one arrives , she always comments like, "that's my kind of card ". So this is one for her. Mendy sent this card and wrote that at the time there had been a lot of rain , but that the weekend ahead was to be sunny. She then went on the write the words to the Beatles song "Here Comes The Sun "on the card. I do hope she got her sun.

Mendy used a 2011 Environment stamp, a self adhesive.








Today's second card is from Liz in Melbourne, Australia. Her card is entitled Fly Through Terminal 4, and was issued by British Airways. I have to be honest here and say that I really don't know in what city  this terminal 4 is found. I might guess London, but that's just a guess. As you can see, I don't get out much. I'm depending on one of you world travelers to enlighten me here.


Liz used a new 2012 London Olympic Games stamp, 1 of a 3 set.   I do apologize for showing it as a vertical stamp, it was issued as a horizontal stamp with the pole vaulter just about on his back, attempting his vault. I didn't realize this until after it was scanned.








Here's a little strange card when you take in to account what the sender wrote. The card itself looks fine. It comes from Japan and Miwa wrote that the card shows Tatebayashi City. Well, I don't see it, guess it a case of  "you can't see the forest for the trees ". It is a nice enough card, looks like a fine meadow or something along that line.

Miwa used a number of fine Japanese stamps dating back to 1958. I leave the research on these to my readers if interested.














A nice view of Toledo, Spain is next. This city of 83,000 is located in central Spain. UNESCO added Toledo as a World Heritage Site in 1986.

I like the stamp on this one. It was issued this year and is from a set of 4, all showing Automobiles, this one a Renault . I even like the whole set.

Just 2 more cards to go .  Vail, Colorado, U.S.A.  is the view on this next card. It's the landmark clock tower in the center of the village of Vail. The village of just over 4,500 was built as the base village of the Vail Ski Resort.

Kirsi used a Zazzle personal stamp , containing a picture of her dog, Maya on this card. I believe this is only the 2nd or 3rd Zazzle stamp I have received since I started collecting postcards more than 6 years ago.





And the last card is : one of Chek Lap Kok International Airport in Hong Kong.











Xu used a 2006 definitive from a set of 16 Bird stamps.Also used is 1 of 4 London Olympic stamps and 1 of 6 Working Dogs stamps, both issued this year.




There you have it, another update. Hope you enjoyed the material. Take care and drop by again.

My 1500th Postcard From POSTCROSSING and Other Cards

It's Sunday, the sun is finally out and I'm feeling much better. It was great for picture taking this morning, everything was covered with hoar frost. It's starting to warm up a little, hopefully we'll be on the plus side for the next while. Now at they say, on to the cards.
My first card today is a great card for a number of reasons. It's a plane card, so that's good, it's a famous view and it is a milestone card. Here we go- this card arrived from Germany, from PostCrosser Alexandra. I have been a member of PostCrossing for over 6 years  now ( 2425 days )  in fact and this is the 1,500th card I have received through my participation in PostCrossing. So you can see that there aren't many days that I don't find a postcard in my mailbox. Now the card itself. It's called View Over Manhattan. It's a view of aircraft NC 18100, a Douglas DC-4E called a Super Mainliner. It was a first version of the later famous DC-4. NC 18100 appeared to be a double deck ( the small upper windows were to illuminate sleeping accommodation )  , multi - fin design aircraft which failed to catch on with the airlines. It flew in 1938 and 1939, some say the picture in question was taken in 1946, but I think that's stretching it a bit. On June 9, 1939 the DC-4E flew some test flights over Dayton, Ohio and none other that Mr. Orville Wright himself was a passenger. The aircraft pictured here was sold to Imperial Japanese Airways in late 1939.  All in all it's a great card, a great addition to my Aircraft on Postcards Collection. It would even be a wonderful picture on my wall.

Alexandra used 1 of 2 stamps in a 2011 UNESCO World Heritage , Joint Issue with Japan.

Card # 2 is another great transportation card. It shows Conway Scenic R.R. # 7470 at North Conway, New Hampshire, barreling down the track. . Locomotive 7470 is a coal fired steam engine built in the Montreal shops of the Grand Trunk Railway in 1921. This picture is copyrighted Joe Geronimo and I hope it's okay to use it here, since he sent the card to me. If not, he will tell me and I'll remove it. It's a great shot and I'm glad to have received it from Joe. We have swapped a few cards back and forth and hopefully will again.

Joe used 3 stamps all of which go back a number of years. The one on the left is 1 of 4 issued for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in lake Placid, N.Y.  The middle stamp , from 2006 is 1 of 20 in a self adhesive Super Heroes set. The right stamp was issued to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of The United Nations in 1995.

New Orleans is the sight of my next card. The card shows the sternwheeler Natchez. The Natchez is a true sternwheeler - both the giant paddle-wheel and calliope are steam powered. This lovely boat offers daily and evening cruises on the Mississippi River.

This card is from Kate who was visiting New Orleans. She has a great postcard blog called deltiolog - a journal of collected postcards .Check it out, it's well worth a visit.  Kate did a good job on selecting stamps for a card from New Orleans. She used 3 of 8 from  a 1994 set featuring Blues & Jazz Singers.

Well I didn't start out to feature cards with a transportation theme, but here's a fourth one. This one may be a little subdued compared to the first three. If you look behind the lady in front, you will see a penny-farthing bicycle. That's quite the riding attire, to say the least.

Jitka from the Czech Republic sent this card as her choice in a private swap. She used a 2008 stamp, a definitive featuring a Gerbera.










Another private swap prompted this next card. I was contacted by The Powells of Forestville, Michigan, U.S.A. Forestville is a village of about 150 people. I was surprised that it had its own post office, but as the post mark clearly shows , it does. The Powells' card shows The Tarpaper Shack at Camp Barakel, in Fairview, Michigan. The Tarpaper Shack stood at the north end of Shear Lake until 1994. 

The Powells used 1 of 5 self adhesive Birds of Prey  stamps issued this year.










This next card also comes from the U.S.  Natasha from Los Angeles sent this one and  I guess it's self explanatory. Just read what's below the door knocker.

 Natasha used a 2011 George Washington stamp and a 2012 Wedding cake stamp.

Last card for today comes from Russia. Great card with great stamps. Katya's card is of the Radisson Royal Hotel in Moscow. Pretty nifty hotel - I think I could stay there when I visit Moscow. The 34 floor hotel was first opened in 1957 , but renovated and reopened in 2010 as the Radisson Royal, with 505 rooms.


Katya used 2 really large Russian stamps. The stamp on the left is 1 of 4 in a 2006 set of Viktor Vasnetsov Paintings.The one on the right was issued in 2010 and honours Chokan Valikhanov.


So ends another update. A good one I think. Thanks to Katya, Natasha, The Powells, Jitka, Kate, Joe and Alexandra for these great cards. 

Till we do it again. Take care.

Cards From Collectors, Bloggers, Swappers and Travelers

Hello again, I'm back for another go on the blog. I've tried to do this update for a couple of days but couldn't get going. I'm  under the weather , as we say.  The weather here for the last week sucks big time. Cold, snow  and the ground has been white for a week now. Snow flurries every day, even now as I type this, it's snowing.It's even a chore to walk to the mail box, so my Lovely Teena has been picking up the mail. I know I'm going to owe her Big time for that. Yes, the leaves are still on the trees, but what do they know ? I guess I have The Flu, but don't worry, you can't catch it thru the internet. You can get most everything else thru  the net, but not the flu.I don't know how far I'm going to get here, but I have a number of really nice cards for you this time. They are nice cards from nice people. People who collect cards, swap cards, blog about cards and people who travel and send postcards. I think of you all as Postcard Friends.

Now on to the postcards. They come from a number of far and distant places. Sri Lanka, Portugal, South Africa, France, Gibraltar, Spain, Zimbabwe, and the U.S.A.
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Let's start with Sri Lanka. Ravindra's card gives us a look at a group of tea pluckers in Nuwara Eliya, a city in the hill country of Central Province. It is located at 1,868 m and is considered to be the most important location for tea production in all of Sri Lanka. Ravindra must have know that I love a good cup of tea.


 

 He has a number of postcards blogs about lighthouses, trains and cars. Here is his blog on lighthouses.  He used 3 great stamps on this cards. The stamp on the top left and the one on the right are from a set of 4 issued in 2010 celebrating Horton Plains National Park.I now have 3 of the 4 stamps in the set, thanks to Ravindra.   The large diamond shape stamp is from a set of 12 mixed issue stamps from 2010. This one celebrates World Children's Day.
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Now a card from Evora , Portugal. Evora is a city of around 42,000 and due to its well-preserved old town centre, the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1986. David's card is a view of Giraldo Square, the main square of the city.


David used a stamp from a 2012 set of 4 Paintings stamps. The set actually included, in addition to the 4 single stamps, 2 souvenir sheets , each containing a single stamp for a total of 6 Paintings.











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My next three cards are compliments of Jean Pierre. His first one is from South Africa. It's a view from the top of Table Mountain, of  the Rotair, Lion's Head , Table Bay and Robben Island.






Jean Pierre's choice of stamps here are from 2010 and 2008. The left stamp is from a 2010 set of 27 Handicrafts definitives. The right stamp celebrates 10 Years of South Africa and China Diplomatic Relations. 
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His second card comes from his homeland of France, Sete in fact. Sete is a commune of roughly 42,000 in southern France. It is the second largest fishing harbour on the Mediterranean Sea. The card gives us a look at the lighthouse at sunset.


The stamps on this card include a number of Marianne definitives along with a stamp from 2012. It is 1 of 4 in a souvenir sheet entitled The Road To Santiago de Compostella.

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Jean Pierre's third card is from Gibraltar. It's an aerial East view of the area including the airport. Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian peninsula.
                                                             

The 2 monkey stamps used are from a set of 6 issued in 2011, all of which show the Gibraltar Barbary Macaques. They received a 28.09.11 date stamp , so I'm not sure if this card has been on the go a  year or so or  if they were already postmarked when purchased. Perhaps Time will tell.

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The next two cards come from Spain and both were sent by Fabienne. We did a private swap of 2 cards. She collects cards of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and I happened to have 2 in my collection that she did not have. I sent her a card of Gros Morne National Park and a card of LÁnse aux Meadows National Historic Site , both  WH Sites in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada . In return she sent me 2 cards and here is the first one. It is a view of snow on the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid. The cathedral is located near the Royal Palace in the centre of the city.


This card arrived with 3 great stamps , one dating back to 1968.That's the stamp in lower left , it was 1 of 3 issued for the Olympic Winter Games in Grenoble. The other 2 stamps were both issued in 2012. The large stamp on the right was issued to celebrate the Constitutional Monarchy. The other stamp is 1 of a 3 set featuring Mushrooms.

Fabienne has a wonderful blog called World Heritage Postcards. Check it out.You won't go wrong.

The second card from our swap shows a view of Madrid surrounded by the  Sierra de Guadarrama Mountain Range. Madrid is the highest capital city in Europe after Andorra la Vella , in Andorra. 

Again a great selection of stamps was used, dating back to 1958. The train stamp on the left is from a set of 6 issued for the 1958 Railways Congress. The middle stamp is 1 of 3 issued in 1982 for the World Cup of Football. The stamp on the right was issued this year and honours a Lawyers Association.

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Here's a card from Zimbabwe in southern Africa. Bruce's card shows a traditional way of life with regard to music. We have a drummer and his drum, marimbas and a mbira, a finger piano. 

Bruce used 2 copies of the 2012 stamp featuring the 1987 sculpture Family by Bernard Matemera.













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I think that's about all I can get through this time. I will save the USA cards for next time. So Thanks for cards go out to Bruce, Fabienne, Jean Pierre, David and Ravindra.  These were really great cards accompanied by great stamps. Drop by again soon. I might even be here again tomorrow, depending on how I feel in the morning.And as always, your 2 cents worth is always welcome via comments.

Postboxes, Air Malta, Amir Temur, Planes on USSR Stamps, and an IKEA Postcard

Welcome, good to have you back here again. I have five cards for this go around. They arrived from United Kingdom, Malta, Uzbekistan, Russia and Netherlands.

First up is a card of Red Boxes , post boxes and telephone boxes. It is from Michelle and is the result of a private swap that we did. This one will fit well in my collection of post boxes / mail boxes.

Michelle used a Machin Queen Elizabeth definitive to get this card across the pond.









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Next is another card for my Airlines/Aircraft on Postcards Collection. This one is of an Air Malta jet at Luqa Airport.


Maria used a couple of really great stamps on her card. The one on the lower left was issued in 2009 and is 1 of 17 in a set of quite large definitives.  The two in the upper right were issued in 2012 and are a small part of a set of 88 stamps marking the 70th anniversary of Operation Pedestral. The 88 different stamps are in the form of 11 multi-sheets.

 

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Here is card # 3 , all the way from Uzbekistan. It's from a Postcrosser named Aliya. Uzbekistan has about 28 million people but only 73 Postcrossers, so getting a card from there doesn't happen every day. Compare that with Ukraine with 10,000 Postcrossers, the U.S. with 39,000 , Russia with 37,000 and Canada with 5,400. So you get the drift. Aliya's card shows Amir Temur's monument in Shahrisyabz, located about 80 km south of Samarkland. Temur was the founder of the Uzbek state.  


Aliya used a number of small definitives from 2009 and 2012. That is often the case on cards from Uzbekistan, even though the country issues many good and large stamps. I guess one really has to search out the good stuff.

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This card from Russia certainly will find a place in my Aircraft on Postcards Collection. It's covered in old time aircraft, as shown on Russian postage stamps. I actually have many of these stamps in my collection.  




This card arrived with a couple of good stamps from 2010 and 2011. On the left is a stamp honoring G.S. Titov, the second Soviet cosmonaut in space. He was also the first person to orbit the Earth multiple times. He went aloft in Vostok 2.

The other 2 stamps are from a set of 4 celebrating the 300th anniversary of the Moscow Post Office.
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Now without further ado, here is today's final card. It is a postcard depicting an Italian postage stamp. It is an IKEA card from a collection about post offices and stamps. I have been to IKEA many times but have never seen this card collection. I guess that just one more reason to go back.



Lotte used 3 great ,and current stamps from The Netherlands. Actually, I don't see a lot of great stamps coming out of The Netherlands , so these were a wonderful surprise. The 3 stamps are from a 2012 set of 4 self adhesives celebrating 125 years of the Albert Heijn  supermarket chain . The chain consists of 908 stores in The Netherlands.
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That's it for this time. Tune in again soon. Thanks to Lotte, Aliya, Maria and Michelle for their cards. Leave a comment if you're inclined. I welcome them. Take care. Enjoy your cards, and stamps.